Fleetwood Mac – Mirage, C/D?

Supposedly by "Mirage" - and certainly by "Tango" - Lindsey had to start assembling Stevie's singing from several different takes, because she was in such (sniff sniff) terrible shape. How she managed to have a solo career at the same time has always been a mystery to me.

I bought Mirage today b/c I was fed up with only knowing "Gypsy" and "Hold Me" (and both of those are brilliant).

"Eyes of the World"!!! is this tune amazing or whut. I want that guitar riff to go on forever and ever. Odd how for all his excesses Buckingham always cuts his tunes too short. He sounds quite crazed on this album - moreso than on "Tusk" which is practically mannered by comparison.

"Oh Diane" is awful.

Alfred, how can you hate "Wish You Were Here"?

I used to own this, didn't like it much overall. Perhaps a revisit is due.
How anything could be better than "Gypsy" is hard to conceptualize, though.

Yes it's hard. It actually doesn't sound so good in the context of the album, but i have loved that single for ever and ever, from a certain angle it is the ultimate Nicks song. Buckingham's guitar solo...

"Wish You Were Here" revives the intro piano part from "Silver Springs" and goes downhill from there. I've warmed to "Only Over You," however. "Love in Store" still smokes, though: I get chills when the three voices sing "NEVER TAKE YOUR LOVE AWAY."

The Mac revived "Eyes of the World" on their 2003 tour – an excuse for Buckingham hysteria.

Listen to "Can't Go Back" and "Book of Love" back to back, Tim. Oh – what do you think of the Stevie songs?

Love "Gypsy" of course (see prior post). "Straight Back" I still need to absorb. The other one depends on whether I can accept rootsy Stevie in my life.

"Can't Go Back" and "Book of Love" have the most weirdly grunty vocals. Like them both a lot on first listen.

speaking of 80s nicks, can anyone tell me about this: http://www.discogs.com/release/723670

i keep seeing it around in bargain bins, is it worth getting?

All the Stevie songs obviously better than "Welcome to the Room, Sara" which I find unlistenable.

I'm talking about the Mirage Stevie songs, but I assume that applies to The Wild Heart too.

"That's Alright" may be the last time cocaine allowed her voice to go that high.

I don't think her voice really "settled" until Say You Will, by which point the damage sounds naturalised.

Say You Will is really great...I've been meaning to replay since I discovered Marcello's marvelous defense a couple of months ago.

only one bad track, which is quite a feat given how long it is.

Seriously, Say You Will is so underrated. I'd say well over half of the tracks on there, if they were transported onto other FM albums, would be considered highlights.

"Red Rover"! "Smile At You"! "Bleed To Love Her"! "When I See You Again"!

The real highlight is "Thrown Down," which on the most basic level (craft) is terrific, and makes an excellent case for Nicks' continuing growth as a songwriter (Buckingham's guitar filigrees on the chorus are superb too).

It sounds tired to keep repeating how much McVie is missed; she's the emollient, whose grease would have prevented the album from feeling twice as long.

I really shoud buy this. I love the others, but memories of Oh Diane put me off.

Oh, and Tim – email me when you get a chance.

WHERE IS IAN

I am loving this album so much! I have been listening to it obsessively. Every song is good except for "Oh Diane" and even that is bearable now. And the best bits are just amazing - like the snarled chorus of "Book of Love", Stevie's plaintive "PUHLEEASE!" on "That's Alright", or just the entirety of "Eyes of the World", NOT TO MENTION "Hold Me"....

The moment you know Lindsay is crazy though is on "Empire State" with the intensely grunted "STRAIGHT!!!!.... STRAIGHT THROUGH THE HEART OF ME!"

EYES OF THE - EYES OF THE - EYES OF THE WORLD

I just heard this for the first time. It might not be as "classic" as their '70s albums, but it sure does have a lot of stunning songs. i agree with the original post that the Nicks material is sub-par, but only in the strictest "songwriting" sense; the band as a whole is still top-notch on the Nicks tracks and they sound great. But I have a pressing concern about the opinions of everyone on this thread: what do you all have against "Oh Diane"??? I remembered reading about how it was supposedly bad, and when I heard it I was shocked by how beautiful it was! It's so good! I don't get you guys!

It's just the hack Elvis impersonation that annoys. I like it more than I did initially. It's still the worst (or least good) song on the album.

Re Stevie - "Gypsy" is of course fabulous, and I'm totally in love with "That's Alright", the chorus is brilliant. Only "Straight Back" is a bit off in the songwriting dept.

"Straight Back" sounds like it's missing...something: a melody, a bridge, a middle eight. I can't put my finger on it.

xxpost I know! It's one of my favourite off this one. Eyes of the World is classic.

only just got this - why did it take me so long???

Can't go back
can't go back

<3

A new Remastered & Expanded version of Mirage is due for release in mid-2011 buy Rhino/Warner Music Group. CD 1 will be the original album remastered and CD 2 will feature bonus material taken from the Mirage era, such as B-sides and outtakes. A track listing for this release has not yet been announced.

!!!!!!!

Oh my god

I can't wait for the Tango reissue. The B-sides and 12" mixes from that era were amazing.

after all these years i still don't have a copy of mirage to call my own. if i had my way i'd chop 'oh diane' off the tracklist but oh well

Awesome. I love this hyperactive uber-Buckingham all treble, all the time edition of FM. Sp precise yet so crazy at the same time.

idg why people hate o diane, i love it

"Only Over You" and "Straight Back" are the only duds.

Spot on description Josh.

"Eyes of the World" certainly fits that description.

We never polled this iirc? Could it be because Gypsy would be the ahem, "landslide" winner?

I would like a proper release of this haunting SNicks demo of Gypsy with just her on organ/vox.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKIC_Kza4Ek

^^^ Never heard this before. Gobsmacked...

whoa, that demo is awesome!

I'm assuming that's Nicks herself on organ, right?

this is pretty awesome indeed. i assume that's a wurli, no?

Dang, that's something else.

Found this, too, which reveals the bluesier roots of a song I never really though of as such:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxdJLw9C830

And wow, this link reveals a trove of demos and outtakes out there, somewhere:

http://www.inspiredangel.com/fmdemos.php

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.guitars101.com/forums/f90/fleetwood-mac-25-years-the-mirage-sessions-101500.html

Hey, look: more Mirage demos and outtakes!

hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z55QPYSU

Hmm, Tango outtakes here, but I'm too lazy to download them track by track. At least not right now:

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=e04e41db6a83767229740b9422d524b62be59dce5cb22dd03ff3359729d970a0f7b0c90c72f4ee13dea6cde8539f3470

"Joan of Arc" is a spacey, drum machine-driven Nicks song in which the line "There's a few murders in our century" gets a lot of play.

has anyone read Timothy White's Rock She Wrote -- a collection of '80s interviews with Keith Richards, Bryan Ferry, Elvis Costello, Bono, etc? He includes a fantastic session with Fleetwood Mac from the summer of '87, just after Buckingham announced his defection. The band is pissed, which explains their touching enthusiasm for Billy Burnette and Rick Vito.

Anyway, Nicks mentions a song left off TITN with the fabulous title "What Has Rock and Roll Ever Done For You" that I've been wanting to hear for years.

sorry: Rock Lives

So glad this is finally being reissued by Rhino - have nearly broken down a few times and bought it on CD because I was getting tired of waiting...just realized it's been seven years since the last batch. Probably still my sentimental favourite of theirs.

Also all the love ITT for "Eyes of the World" surprising and OTM.

Yeah, I've always hesitated about updating my cassette (!) copy.

"Eyes of the World" is amazing, is there even anything else remotely like it in the world ever?

Another Fleetwood Mac song?

Man, I have to pick this up, only know the singles, which I like. Seems like it must be a common cheap vinyl find but I don't remember seeing it offhand.

the version of "eyes of the world" on the live at boston cd, in which it transforms into a regular rock song, absolutely burns through everything in its path.

oh also fuck yeah at the say you will talk upthread. the buckingham songs on that record are my favorite material of his, such dense thickets of ideas and guitars curving in and out of the mix and all of those voices galloping through. and his fucking guitar playing on that record.

stevie's stuff on that record is cool too but beyond "thrown down" it doesn't really rise to the same level.

h8 u 'oh diane'

so much

it's funny this got revived today, b/c i happened to listen to "hold on" today for no particular reason, and newly struck by its greatness i wondered why i never really delved into this album. as pointed out by most everyone on this thread, it turns out that it's pretty amazing, with crazy layers of buckingham ideas pervasive throughout it (including some great little lead guitar bits by him)

i kinda burned out on tusk a few years back, so i'm glad to have this to work with

fwiw i think "oh diane" is pretty great!

mirage is maybe their densest album in terms of ideas and sound design and its weird that you'd think they'd want to scale back after tusk and *yeah i guess its not a double album* but otherwise this is crazy ornate. Like eyes of the world is packed w/ batshit notions.

Like eyes of the world is packed w/ batshit notions.

yeah the reason I think this is pretty one of a kind is that it's simultaneously really hooky but also just a patchwork of these really great utterly distinct little fragments. Also it's like, the singing comes in at 11, it's like he had five climaxes for other songs that he then just combined into one song.

I don't think there's anything on Tusk really like this - obv "The Ledge" is a bundle of fragments but also sounds like it, while stuff like "What Makes You Think You're The One" is like a great song with great ideas grafted onto it.

OTOH "Hold Me" aside the McVie songs feel a lot more straightforwardly performed and produced than on Tusk.

hold me aside is sortof a major proviso there tho

undeniably, yes. My point is more that Mirage feels like a weird combination of Buckingham both retreating from the edge of Tusk while also intensifying past it - I'd say "Book of Love" and "Empire State" are also more insane than anything on the previous album.

everyone is killing music w/ wooooords

idk i love how insane this album is but at the same time yeah, a lot of the time tho still manic its contraptions feel sortof cast-iron. the looseness of previous albums starts to disappear. i cannot remember the drumming on this album at all.

This is their weakest Buckingham-McVie-Nicks album, and it augurs what was fully realized on Tango in the Night: awesome production touches hiding okay to terrible songs. I endorse "Eyes of the World," "Hold Me," and "Gypsy" as the classics, while "Love in Store," "Can't Go Back," and "Book of Love" as second-tier goodies, but the rest are bland.

Not enough contemporary reviews of the album are extant, but I wonder if "Hold Me" (a massive hit in the US -- #4 for six weeks) was the sort of thing that made people reevaluate Buckingham as a producer of genius. As in, "Oh, wow, we really underestimated Tusk's weirdness, didn't we?"

plax is OTM.

FInding myself in rare agreement with Alfred... what could this mean?

I'm on record endorsing Termite Art like Mirage, so while I agree with Tim on the degree to which the band pushes against the economy (staidness if I'm feeling sinister) of the arrangements, the results just aren't as satisfying.

TITN actually succeeds as the against-all-odds triumph.

Not that it matters, but Buckingham is not fond of this one at all. He admits now that the album was the culmination of two years of intra-band/record company pressure to "release another Rumours."

i cannot remember the drumming on this album at all.

Hold Me has a couple neat fills (intro -> verse 1,

How many of Christine's songs does Lindsay do "more than just a bg vox", it's almost like doubling. Notice this a lot on my faves and even on my not-so-faves (ie, "Don't Stop")

yeah, the drumming on "Hold Me" is amazing -- that little fill before the outro guitar solo.

yeah i thought maybe hold me would be the exception but this album has no breathing room like the end of over and over and mick fleetwood never feels indispensible like on what makes you think your the one for eg.

A friend and I, listening to the "Seven Wonders" 12-inch a couple of months ago, wondered aloud if a Big Corporate Band ever released so un-1987 album as Tango in the Night. When other dinosaurs camouflaged missing parts with synclaviers or whatever, Buckingham used stacked or accelerated harmonies and all manner of synthesized chimes, celestes, toy pianos, and such. I can't think of two songs that sound so out-of-time as "Little Lies" and "Big Love."

Whereas, I dunno, even my favorite Mirage tracks sound like expert 1982 studio-rock.

How many of Christine's songs does Lindsay do "more than just a bg vox", it's almost like doubling. Notice this a lot on my faves and even on my not-so-faves (ie, "Don't Stop")

Obv "Think About Me" (my favourite example, esp. on the line "I don't hold you down / maybe that's why you're around...") and "You & I", nothing else immediately coming to mind...?

I endorse "Eyes of the World," "Hold Me," and "Gypsy" as the classics, while "Love in Store," "Can't Go Back," and "Book of Love" as second-tier goodies, but the rest are bland.

"Book of Love" is totally first-tier!!!

But I'm certainly not saying this album is an out and out classic, read my posts again.

Which song do you guys dislike most: "Straight Back" or "Welcome To the Room...Sara"?

i mean when i finally heard mirage and tango i was shocked at how good they turned out to be but in the end you have to admit that rumours and tusk are unfuckwithable and these will always be lesser dented albums

welcome to the room sarah is some full on garbage but you can tell just by reading the name come on

Would agree re the singularity of Tango's sound but OTOH I sort of see it as the culmination of post-Gabriel late-eighties exoticism in mainstream rock which a lot of people were dabbling in but less successfully (am I correct in remembering that you don't much like "Tonight Tonight Tonight" alfred?).

I'd rank them:

Rumours
Fleetwood Mac
Tusk
Tango in the Night
Mirage

Which song do you guys dislike most: "Straight Back" or "Welcome To the Room...Sara"?

"Straight Back" is a like a smoke machine hiding nothing, but "Welcome To The Room...Sara" actively does harm to Nicks' standing in my eyes.

its where buckingham drowning bad songs in crazy production really just resembles him jumping up and down on the other side of the room trying to create a diversion while stevie nicks sticks coke up her arse

but the exoticism is discrete and isolated: the title track and maybe "Caroline" (that's where I assume you hear the "Tonight Tonight Tonight" allusion) and the Rousseau cover art.

I love typing the ellipses for "Welcome To The Room...Sara."

I do kinda love the friend-in-need bits in "Isn't It Midnight" and "When I See You Again" -- Buckingham just says, "Alright, bitches, stand back: I'm taking over."

btw tonight is a night i feel like talking abt music

welcome to the room sarah is some full on garbage but you can tell just by reading the name come on

lol

"Caroline" (that's where I assume you hear the "Tonight Tonight Tonight" allusion)

Yes. But I'd say that there's a kind of submerged (or restrained) exoticism to the sound throughout, esp. the interlocking of buckingham's guitar playing and the synthetic wall hangings, even if the result is quite restrained (see in partic. "Family Man" and "You and I").

I love typing the ellipses for "Welcome To The Room...Sara.

Waiting for Drake to make "Welcome to the Room #Sara"

tango in the night kindof reminds me of the soundtrack to a clockwork orange

Pretty good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCh_AppMcfU

Buckingham is shockingly candid about the band's bad faith.

FInding myself in rare agreement with Alfred... what could this mean?

You've realized I'm awesome?

you've realized I'm... awesome?

I once again should recommend that "Destiny Rules" making-of "Say You Will" DVD, which makes it explicitly clear that this band is and has been for eons incapable of doing anything without Lindsey's guidance/vision. It's telling that several of the tracks on "Tusk" are essentially just him, with token input from the others, and there's no reason to believe that "Mirage" and "Tango" don't follow that pattern as well. Basically, he hunkers down to make a solo album, gets the call and decides whether or not to donate said works in progress to the new album. Sometimes the others contribute bits and pieces to more or less complete tracks, sometimes they don't. "Say You Will" in particular has several songs totally indistinguishable from the versions he recorded for (the original) "Gift of Screws"

Well, sure...but Buckingham needs McVie's warmth and soul, Nicks' batshit craziness, and that remarkable rhythm section.

"Say You Will" in particular has several songs totally indistinguishable from the versions he recorded for (the original) "Gift of Screws"

yeah this was both disappointing and sort of awesome when i realised

I've seen that doc, by the way, and the two moments I remember: (a) Nicks getting miffed at Buckingham criticizing her approach to songwriting ("Would you call Bob Dylan structure-less?") and Mick Fleetwood rising to his full height and glowering and scaring Buckingham, reminding him and all of us that while Buckingham is the Genius, Fleetwood is The Leader, and it's his band.

I'm reminded also of the dearth of good criticism of FM in the mid to late nineties when I discovered them. I finally heard my parents' vinyl copy of Rumours in late '96 and bought the '88 greatest hits, after which I got TITN and Tusk in quick succession. Besides Greil Marcus' famous piece positing Tusk as a punk album (I hadn't read Simon Reynolds' essay yet), it was still considered at best a Noble Failure.

The success of The Dance changed all that. I had 18 and 19-y-o friends discovering Rumours that winter and being totally blown away. That was the period when the Tusk revival inched forward.

Fleetwood is The Leader, and it's his band.

Clearly you forget the moment when Mick sits Lindsey down and tells him the label and managers (each member appears to have his or her own manager) wants him to tone down the weirdness and cut the album down to a more commercial single album, and Lindsey looks him right in the eye and basically says "fine, I'll take all my songs and release my solo album instead." And Mick, fearless leader, immediately backs down.

Also, Stevie brings a giant dreamcatcher to her first day in the studio.

Oh, and "Tusk" revival began in earnest when Spin, way back when, listed it as one of the top 10 most underrated albums. The same list, if I recall, started the "Paul's Boutique" revival.

(Or was it overlooked albums?)

Clearly you forget the moment when Mick sits Lindsey down and tells him the label and managers (each member appears to have his or her own manager) wants him to tone down the weirdness and cut the album down to a more commercial single album, and Lindsey looks him right in the eye and basically says "fine, I'll take all my songs and release my solo album instead." And Mick, fearless leader, immediately backs down.

I remember, but how many solo albums does Buckingham sell? Besides, by Say You Will it looked pretty clear that each member had made his or her peace with everyone else's idiosyncrasies.

and McVie was the only one who said, "Fuck this, I'm leaving to release a solo album" (which didn't sell).

finally, as much as I love "Trouble" and at least five or six other Buckingham solo tracks, Stevie Nicks has plenty more solo moments I care for.

(which didn't sell).

there's a v good reason for this

if these were the sort of songs she was likely to be contributing to 'say you will' i for one am glad she wasn't involved

I dunno about albums sales, but certainly especially Stevie but also Lindsey were no slouches in the solo album department, even Christine, back when any of them were selling records, FM included.

If anything, it's probably most accurate to suggest FM is simply the best vehicle for Lindsey's brand of weird. Wolf in sheep's clothing and all that. FM are one of those totally mainstream bands, like Steely Dan, where sometimes I wonder whether the average fan truly has any idea how strange this stuff actually is.

McVie is a formulaic writer, for better or worse: she bangs out tunes on the piano which require Buckingham's arrangements to make them special. But those tunes are essential to FM. As much as I believe in Buckingham as The Genius, I can't give him most of the credit; it always looks like these other people are appendages to His Vision. It's too facile, too beholden to auteur theories about art.

it's probably most accurate to suggest FM is simply the best vehicle for Lindsey's brand of weird.

otm

Like Tim, I'm a fan of Say You Will: still enormously underrated. But whatever the tension produced by accommodating three different songwriters, McVie is missed. Forced to contribute all the tunes, Buckingham and Nicks include at least three pieces of filler apiece. There's something to be said about fractious democracy.

FM are one of those totally mainstream bands, like Steely Dan, where sometimes I wonder whether the average fan truly has any idea how strange this stuff actually is.

Perhaps this goes without saying: I think "average fans" do pick up on this stuff pretty readily but maybe are less inclined to try to put it in context like "ironically, Buckingham's work was much stranger than much of the post-punk and new wave that purported to react against 70s soft rock etc etc."

Forced to contribute all the tunes, Buckingham and Nicks include at least three pieces of filler apiece.

w/r/t Nicks I'd say the killer to filler ratio is higher on SYW than on any album she's been involved in since Tusk.

stevie's songs on SYW are the best since tusk imo, 'gypsy' excluded

"Goodbye Baby" and "Throw Down" are A+.

^^

i love running through the garden as well

"Thrown Down" boasts the most Mirage-like production btw: all restrained fury.

In addition to the above I particularly love "Destiny Rules".

In fact the only Nicks song on the album whcih I think is a misfire is "Silver Girl".

I don't care for the one about 9-11 in which she's searching for a vocal melody using her new vocal style.

Yeah, that 9-11 one is a dud that comes distractingly early in the album.

Re: mainstream acceptance, I don't know. I have plenty of friends who think of both Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan as simply mellow hanging with your pals music, and live neither attracts the freaks that flock to, say, Yes shows (who had the most eccentric hodge-podge of fans I've ever seen at a show). But FM and SD are just so skewed, the former massively high-strung for such a "mellow" act and the latter so clinical and cynical for relax-and-have-a-good-time smooth operators. Their popularity, especially as MOR staples, is like a great sleight of hand trick.

I mean, splitting the difference between two bands, it'd be as if XTC were playing outdoor summer arenas and blasting from SUVs.

I don't think it's necessarily the case that skewed intensity and maintream acceptance are mutually exclusive or even inversely proportional (although I accept that things can trend that way) - hence songs like "Don't Stop Believing", "Under Pressure", "Total Eclipse of the Heart".

"simply mellow hanging with your pals" is different and I'd agree with you there, but mainly because neither FM's Greatest Hits nor Rumours if taken in isolation give a good sense of how weird the band can be (of course if you are familiar with, say, "The Ledge" and "Empire State", then you can also hear those qualities of weirdness and over-intensity nestled within tunes like "Go Your Own Way" and "Rhiannon").

I think Steely Dan is a much better fit for your argument in terms of the songs being both generally beguiling to a broad audience and so idiosyncratic simultaneously.

I remember: (a) Nicks getting miffed at Buckingham criticizing her approach to songwriting ("Would you call Bob Dylan structure-less?")

hah, he even takes a sort of dig at her songwriting in that clip from '82 upthread: "Stevie Nicks writes poetry, and...has a certain sense of melody which isn't always very well-developed..."

thing is, when "gypsy" goes into its sole diversionary little bridge part i don't think it really serves the song particularly well. i mean, one of the great things about "gypsy" (and "sara"!) for me is their "structure"-lessness and the relentless repetition of their "plonk-plonk-plonk-plonk-plonk..." themes

And she became enough of a craftsman to write sturdy solo hits on her own, albeit often arranged by hacks.

http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/biographies/waddy2a.jpg

"Who you callin' a hack?"

Actually, totally forgot this guy goes all the way back to the Buckingham-Nicks album, and co-wrote a few doozies with Warren Zevon. Wikipedia offers the further illuminating factoid: "Wachtel and his wife Annie were arrested in 1998 on suspicion of possession of child pornography after questionable images were found on the computer in their bedroom, after they had taken it in for repair. Wachtel was sentenced to three years probation after pleading no contest to the charges."

"book of love" is a little underwritten, but the chorus hits and the harmonies are incredible. manages to be deeply satisfying.

It was on my ballot! I found it a little underdeveloped and "tweaked-out Lindsey mode"-ish when I first encountered it, but it grew on my a lot and I find myself with the chorus stuck in my head on a regular basis.

"Book of Love" is one of my very favourite FM tunes. LB's vocals are insane. It's like the florid sequel to "Not That Funny Is It" (my other favourite LB tune).

If the weaker half of Mirage was as good as the stronger half it'd be my favourite Fleetwood Mac album, I think.

Yeah, that record is strange within their discography for the vastness of the gulf between its strongest and its weakest material...

and viewed by the band (and Lindsey) as their one sellout "compromised" recording.

I like how it sounds like 1982 (i.e. the slow fade of the seventies studio rock ethos) yet nods towards a DIY ethic that never really took hold.

"Eyes of the World" and "Hold Me" made my ballot, while "Love in Store" is a fine third single.

ok...I think I love "That's Allright" after all those years: the banjo, Stevie holding those high notes.

oh...the album was #1 exactly thirty years ago!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RRO5_NkmjU

fucking remaster this already!

^^This.

Continuing my Mac vinyl journey, listened to this one last night and again now. Christine's voice sounds so great here. "That's Alright" wouldn't have sounded out of place on an '80s Roseanne Cash record.

the existing cd sounds good to me. You just have to turn it up bring out the colors. It's a very diaphanous production and I feel like when they remaster it the beefed up kick drum is going to be crushing the life out of those upper mid range silk scarves etc etc

The vinyl is heavenly, and is sadly the end of my Mac excursion in the medium for the time being as my clean-looking TITN is botched ("Little Lies" is skip city).

argh

Stephen T Erlewine
‏@sterlewine

#BREAKING Deluxe editions of Fleetwood Mac’s Mirage out July 29. 2-CD with outtakes & B-sides, 3-CD, 5.1 & LP box that has extra live CD

YES

According to Super Deluxe Edition:

Disc 2
1. Love In Store (Early Version)
2. Suma’s Walk aka Can’t Go Back (Outtake)
3. That’s Alright (Alternate Take)
4. Book of Love (Early Version)
5. Gypsy (Early Version)
6. Only Over You (Alternate Version)
7. Empire State (Early Version)
8. If You Were My Love (Outtake)
9. Hold Me (Early Version)
10. Oh Diane (Early Version)
11. Smile At You (Outtake)
12. Goodbye Angel (Original Outtake)
13. Eyes of the World (Alternate Early Version)
14. Straight Back (Original Vinyl Version)
15. Wish You Were Here (Alternate Version)
16. Cool Water (2016 Remastered)
17. Gypsy (Video Version) [2016 Remastered]
18. Put a Candle In the Window (Run-Through)
19. Teen Beat (Outtake) [2016 Remastered]
20. Blue Monday (Jam)

The 5-disc super deluxe edition:

Disc 3
1. The Chain (Live at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA October 21-22, 1982)
2. Gypsy (Live at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA October 21-22, 1982)
3. Love In Store (Live at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA October 21-22, 1982
4. Not That Funny (Live at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA October 21-22, 1982)
5. You Make Loving Fun (Live at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA October 21-22, 1982)
6. I’m So Afraid (Live at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA October 21-22, 1982)
7. Blue Letter (Live at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA October 21-22, 1982)
8. Rhiannon (Live at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA October 21-22, 1982)
9. Tusk (Live at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA October 21-22, 1982)
10. Eyes of the World (Live at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA October 21-22, 1982)
11. Go Your Own Way (Live at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA October 21-22, 1982)
12. Sisters of the Moon (Live at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA October 21-22, 1982)
13. Songbird (Live at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA October 21-22, 1982)

Disc 4
DVD featuring a 5.1 Surround Mix (by Ken Caillat) and 24/96 Stereo Audio mixes

Disc 5
Vinyl

Annie Zaleski on the making of: http://www.avclub.com/article/fleetwood-macs-mirage-well-crafted-diamond-rough-239731

Surely the outsider's Fleetwood Mac record is Kiln House. Or Penguin? Or...Behind the Mask?

Anyway I love this record, definitely my fav from the Buckingham/Nicks era

Didn't know "Straight Back" was a holdover from Buckingham Nicks, that record shows up again in the guitar hook for Buckingham's "Eyes of the World", stolen from himself off of "Stephanie"

That clip upthread of the demo for "Hold Me" is a brilliant illustration of Buckingham's genius for producing, why didn't that guy produce more records for other people? Not interested? Did no one think to ask?

Doesn't play well with others.

Actually, I had no idea he had a hand in the second Dream Academy album, getting production/writing credits on these two:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiJUKZSS9Ec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cKK5JTyukE

Surely the outsider's Fleetwood Mac record is Kiln House. Or Penguin? Or...Behind the Mask?

Yeah for such a huge band, they certainly have a lot of forgotten/lost albums. There are still five or six I've never heard and I consider myself a big fan.

Mirage is excellent though.

That clip upthread of the demo for "Hold Me" is a brilliant illustration of Buckingham's genius for producing,

One of my favorite little details on this song is the guitar solo -- the lead guitar starts by holding one high note that decays fairly quickly, so it seems as if the muted, arpeggiated guitar figure is the solo, until the lead guitar comes back in a couple of bars in. Then at the end both of those guitars are joined by these amazingly lush 12-string strums. And yet none of them overwhelms the others and they're all perfectly balanced.

Good review in Uncut:

http://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/album/fleetwood-mac-mirage

Delayed till September, it looks like.

It's September!

Supposed to come out yesterday.

never take your love away

it's out!

this is obvious i guess but this album sounds exquisite

i a/b'd it with the original cd and wow the remaster is kinda incredible

My review of the reissue.

thanks for that!

this is a pretty revelatory remaster, it really brought the music forth and made it shine without overdoing it. Wonder if they'll do the same to Tango in the Night (which doesn't quite measure up)

wow, does indeed seem impressive at first listen

I didn't know a remaster was planned. good surprise !
Such a great album.
it seems the public liked it but not the critics.
I think it's my favourite FM album (with Tusk close behind).

It wasn't disliked by critics, just accepted as "ho-hum, more Mac."

The original Rolling Stone review: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/mirage-19820816

Nice, thanks !
yeah, the stars# doesn't really reflect the article's very light approach on the album.

I am hearing so many new things in this remaster it's almost as if it's been remixed.

yeah this sounds really really good. there are little palm-mute arpeggios in "hold me" that i've NEVER heard before.

Tempting. Already last year's Tusk remaster was revelatory

now had the chance to do a bit of a/b'ing - my old vinyl copy does sound more or less the same... digital remaster a bit... tighter.. perhaps better

but hearing the same details

It's essentially the same but louder. Mirage, indeed.

thanks for that!

― sleeve, Sunday, September 25, 2016

thank you!

Nearing the end of side b of this remaster. Things that stand out---

The many instances of recessed wordless backing harmonies sound more richly colored, like they're oils now instead of watercolors.

This record is so thickly populated with things that click and scrape! Every song has cluckings tappings thumpings most of which are coming from Lindsay's guitar and the attacks of all these little percussive sounds are so clear and palpable, like the abovementioned muted arpeggios on hold me: listen to that pick!

The worlds meekest one note organ sitting in the back of the room on only over you <3

remaster or no, how fantastic is "Gypsy"

how come Stevie's solo demo isn't on this thing

Buckingham heard about ILM's preference for Grimes' "Realiti" demo iirc

if someone had told me Oh Diane was Suicide i'd have believed them. it's a *total* Vega rip! he must have been a fan, i recall he liked his punk-y stuff?

you must think the Grease soundtrack also sounds like Suicide

lol

oh diane is a definite lowlight

gtfo

such an underrated album. also crucial eccojam sample material:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN0czUMRMU8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pukb_scv1Ao

The remaster does sound great !
also, after listening to this album again I realize there's only one song I don't like much : "Straight Back".
And I don't hate it. It's just meh but I can play the whole album without being bothered by that song.
All the rest is good/great (I don't really get the hate for "Oh Diane").

yah I thought "Straight Back" was the consensus Worst Song, but even the remaster flatters it.

remaster or no, how fantastic is "Gypsy"

― niels, Monday, September 26, 2016 4:16 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

god yes

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/christine-mcvie-on-making-fleetwood-macs-mirage-new-lp-w441626

But Lindsey and I, we have plenty of songs. There are tons more in the bag that we have yet to record. And they're fantastic.

uuugggghhhh can't wait to hear this new stuff. of course we always think in terms of Buckingham/Nicks but for my money there is nothing better in the world than when Buckingham gets a hold of a McVie song. and how long has it been? "Only Over You" continues to floor me. so weird, so perfect. that lonely one note organ as Jon mentioned upthread, the bg vocals in the pre-chorus! so good.

can't hear any stevie on that track, unless she's just pushed way back on some "ohhh ohhhhh"s, but while I was trying to find a live clip I found this instead:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0wRgTDv4Gg

re: the eccojam just upthread, jfc am I old. i'm only 31! and so, so old. vaporwave! wtf is that!

uuugggghhhh can't wait to hear this new stuff. of course we always think in terms of Buckingham/Nicks but for my money there is nothing better in the world than when Buckingham gets a hold of a McVie song. and how long has it been

otm

yeah and of course Buckingham and Nicks have some brilliant songs throughout FM's albums but I might consider Mc Vie songs as the most consistently interesting melodically/harmonically.

And here's Mick Fleetwood's interview.

"The fact that we're talking about it again is actually really cool," Fleetwood says of Mirage. "Because we ended up making a far better album than we gave ourselves credit for for many years."

Nice !
I was reading a MF interview earlier about their drugs issues and how he snorted alone something like 60 million$ worth of cocaine !

I love Oh Diane now. It conjures this certain feeling of weird 80s 50s stuff like John Waters and Twin Peaks.

Finally picked up the remaster. On first listen the biggest surprise to me is how gorgeous "Straight Back" turns out to be.

My rediscovery too.

Holy fuck is "That's Alright" a great song. They should've gone and made a straight-up 80s country album with that sound.

Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

Say You Will is the one I've been listening to the most recently, and I still think it's got some really strong stuff on it even though the record is more than a touch overlong and I miss McVie's songwriting and lead vocals (the opposite of Tango In The Night, where for me it didn't really matter that Nicks wasn't really "present" as McVie's and Buckingham's songs were so strong and Buckingham's production and arrangements were so OTM) - Anyway, I noticed on Say You Will that Buckingham and Nicks get 9 songs each, so since the album can be split so neatly into two I've found myself wondering how it would actually sound as a two disc set - one for each songwriter. Think I'll try that at some point.

Also, has there been any more news about the forthcoming Buckingham-McVie-really-should-be-a-Fleetwood-Mac album?

No. It's obvious that Nicks has lawyer-veto power over who is in the Mac.

My review of the reissue: https://humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2016/09/24/fleetwood-macs-mirage-sparkles-anew/

Also, has there been any more news about the forthcoming Buckingham-McVie-really-should-be-a-Fleetwood-Mac album?

I believe it'll be out this summer. For her part, Nicks has said that, due to the state of the industry, the full band probably won't make another album.

I was under the impression that Mick Fleetwood and John McVie owned the name "Fleetwood Mac" and therefore could dictate who could and couldn't be in the band?

What's interesting about Say You Will is how hard it is to separate Nicks and Buckingham's efforts in terms of quality - well, probably Buckingham has a bit better quality control, but - "Bleed To Love Her" aside - Nicks' highs are a little bit higher.

That's the biggest surprise of the album: that Nicks provided (or Buckingham coaxed from her) such a strong set of material after 16+ years of struggling on that front.

I love "Hold Me" and especially "Gypsy" - that one has always, in my head, sounded like some magical ethereal wonderland journey suggested by the best possible interpretation of the title.

"Nicks has said that, due to the state of the industry, the full band probably won't make another album."

she's been on about the state of the industry for some time but I don't really get it. Is the fear that it wouldn't make enough money? They certainly all still tour together (I saw them last year, and they were amazing).

like, she actually told people to just download her last solo album for free since it didn't matter

"No. It's obvious that Nicks has lawyer-veto power over who is in the Mac."

is that something that might have been introduced after they put out the godawful Time?

(actually I don't know that that album is godawful, I only listened to it once and never gave it another shake, but it struck me as negligibly Mac)

she's been on about the state of the industry for some time but I don't really get it. Is the fear that it wouldn't make enough money?

Pretty much. She's asked about it in the current Rolling Stone, and she replies something to the effect of 'why spend a year recording something that won't make money?'.

Pretty much. She's asked about it in the current Rolling Stone, and she replies something to the effect of 'why spend a year recording something that won't make money?'.

OK really? The artist who insisted on a piano in her hotel suite in 1980?

You can go back further than that - the fact that the band didn't disintegrate circa the recording of Rumours may have had a lot to do with two of the band members finally getting their lucky break (and plenty of money) and the other three members finally seeing some big success (and plenty of money) after years of trying to re-establish themselves post-Peter Green.

An artist who's a capitalist!

they could, you know, record an album without spending 100 million dollars on it

lotsa good advice for stevie itt

at the risk of ending this inspiring discussion here's the actual quote:

I don't think we'll do another record. If the music business were different, I might feel different. I don't think there's any reason to spend a year and an amazing amount of money on a record that, even if it has great things, isn't going to sell. What we do is go on the road, do a ton of shows and make lots of money. We have a lot of fun. Making a record isn't all that much fun.

Sound fair enough to me.

Sad but true

Making a record isn't all that much fun.

Sure, not playing an instrument means she spends most of her time not doing anything when it's not her song. Maybe they could split the sessions into three parts and only work on one writer's songs at a time.

the only reason I bemoan their not doing another one is because Buckingham and NIcks' latest solo output has been really really good and I wouldn't mind hearing those songs with the Mac backing them.

Finally hearing this. Definitely rocking my world atm - guess tango in the night next then?

Yup

TitN has "Everywhere" which is one of the best songs of all time, but I prefer Mirage, it's more subtle, has kind of a unique sound

I can't stop listening to "Book of Love" -- it sounds like it was cooked up in an EZ bake oven but that chorus! I went to sleep thinking about it, woke up singing it. Have there been any noteworthy covers of this song? I checked and didn't find anything but maybe my googling is weak.

HA
HA
HA
HA

was it somebody from abooooooooove?
i'd like to hear that guitar part at the end go on a bit longer

i'd love a thread on songs that include backing vocals like the "ha ha ha ha" ones on this (also used in o superman and goldfrapp's "Hunt")

lechera, i woke up singing this too :) i mash the opening doo wop harmony vocal with metal guru in my mind by t-rex as well :-/

I went through a "Book of Love" phase for a long spell and walked away acknowledging that John's contribution is incredible. He really carries the song, it was quite kind of Lindsay to give him so much room.

check out the early version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qsi3WqhQSU

i'd love to play/sing a super loud crazy horse version of this song with a longer more ripping guitar solo/jam/freakout at the end

it's like this song has singlehandedly revived my interest in life

SURELY HE MUST KNOW ALL THE RUUUUULES

ha ha ha ha

I love how often FM demos and early versions sound more polished than most bands' final products.

book of love is definitely a fleetwood mac production i could live inside of

on an album of miraculous backing vocals it manages to hella stand out

it'd be a really fun song to teach a group of beginners
i would love to hear different interpretations of this song tbh
that is why i asked about covers originally

Are there many auto harps used on this record? The guitar sounds are super lush

I gave this album another listen a couple of weeks ago. Still think it's the weakest album they put out from 1975-1987, although there's a couple of songs that would make it onto a personal best of.

('Gypsy' and 'Book of Love', of course.)

"Hold Me" is miraculous.

"Oh Diane," "Wish You Were Here," and "Empire State" I skip.

hold me/gypsy/book of love are def my favorites
can't really remember much about the rest of the songs tbh!
but those three i love A LOT

On the evidence of "That's Allright," Nicks should've sung more country; it's one of the last times her voice was that high too.

I loathe 'Empire State' - for me, it's one of the worst things this incarnation of FM put out. I agree that Mirage gets overlooked a bit, but it's not hard to see why when it followed three incredible albums and was followed by an album that yielded far more memorable hits.

i bought it from the dollar bin

"hold me" and "gypsy" are so good that i was dismayed at how much i do not enjoy the full album

Xp to Ross

I feel like LB found some super close but rounded way to record his guitars with this production. There are all these great little guitar incidents that are tiny yet super present and colorful

Papas Fritas admit their Fleetwood Mac influence with a stripped down "Book of Love" cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KJHNddSzLo

However, if you've heard "People Say," you already know how much they love Mirage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxiOSmAE3rM

She was just a dream maker,
Dreamer of sighs
Shadow on the one who used to cry

Can't believe this revive has not mentioned the incredible "Eyes of the World" yet.

eyes eyes eyes eyes

BACK AND FORTH LIES UNFUUUURRRLLLL

Love "Straight Back". What a production job building up and sustaining a lyric that's about ... who the f___ knows what but it sounds gorgeous in the process. Great headphones albums these (Rumours thru Tango).

mirage remaster is i think the best remaster i've ever heard

Loving it!

mirage remaster is i think the best remaster i've ever heard

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson),

It transformed the album for me.

"Straight Back" is the only new song Nicks contributed; "Gypsy" and the too underrated "That's Alright" are Rumours and Tusk cast-offs.

I know "Tusk" and "Tango" feature tracks that are, for all purposes, entirely Lindsey. Is that true for "Mirage" as well? Like "Can't Go Back" or "Empire State" or "Oh Diane," they sound like they could be Lindsey solo specials.

"Eyes of the World," too. The drums on that one, "Can't Go Back" and "Diane" could even very well be looped or drum machine.

I'd say "Empire State" sounds like a solo performance.

The band's done terrific live performances of "Eyes of the World" in the last thirty years.

oh good a new opportunity to embed this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TV6BEwJEKI

"Straight Back" is the only new song Nicks contributed; "Gypsy" and the too underrated "That's Alright" are Rumours and Tusk cast-offs.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, August 18, 2020 6:16 AM (two hours ago)

nope, "That's Alright" dates back to the Buckingham/Nicks demos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvFKPtBuNCY

Alfred you esp. should hear those demos if you haven't.

I knew that both Nicks & Buckingham had deep NorCal roots (both attended Menlo-Atherton HS & San Jose State, then Rumours was recorded in Sausalito), but this little gem in the wiki for Buckingham Nicks demo:

In 1972, the two continued to write songs, recording demo tapes at night in Daly City on a half-inch four-track Ampex tape machine Buckingham kept at the coffee roasting plant belonging to his father.

Alfred you esp. should hear those demos if you haven't.

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli),

I am! It's frustrating in the best sense to hear McVie's demo for what became "You & I, Part II" and realize what it's missing, hence the Buckingham co-writing credit.

"Book of Love" still my absolute fave!!

^^^

SURELY HE MUST KNOW ALL THE RUUULLLLES

SURELY HE MUST KNOW ALL THE RUUULLLLES

ha ha ha ha

Buckingham’s best work here has this quality of being totally pop and completely unhinged at the same time. I expect him to collapse and start frothing at the mouth during “The Book of Love”.

Well, he started frothing in this 1982 performance of "The Chain."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGykwC0fdJ4

https://youtu.be/RTa6KEE9cZU

Well, he started frothing in this 1982 performance of "The Chain."

📹

Buckingham is visibly off his face in the video for Trouble, as are his backimg band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyONfX5bpyQ

By most/many accounts Lindsey was not into coke, and certainly not to the debilitating degree of Mick or Stevie. I'm sure he dabbled, but I suspect he's just naturally high strung. But then you watch the 1982 video and you think ... just naturally high strung?

It does seem that when bands get into coke that's when things go downhill. But in the case of Fleetwood Mac, when Mick and Stevie went nuts with the stuff it took Lindsey to keep everyone in line (har) and/or salvage their work, which implies he was *not* off his head. And all of his solo stuff is very consistent, very much of a piece and style, so I do wonder if that's just the way he is.

He's not a coke guy; he's been public for years about his epilepsy. Less so about his anger, especially toward women.

I defer to you experts but in the Caillat book he mentions LB snorting up the drugs more than once

Sure. But Nicks is candid: she has said he did drugs, just fewer and less often than the others

From what I know of the era it sounds like everyone was doing some coke, but Lindsey said he was more a pot guy.

sigh, I was only able to appreciate “don’t stop” when some poster (m bison?) pointed out that it works better if you imagine Lindsey *extremely on cocaine*

The Simpsons is how I had that revelation, when Bart sings "Don't Stop" after taking a bunch of Focusyn

sigh, I was only able to appreciate “don’t stop” when some poster (m bison?) pointed out that it works better if you imagine Lindsey *extremely on cocaine*

― brimstead, Tuesday, August 18, 2020 5:53 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

this sounds like some shit i said, m bison otm

terrified that my urge to hear Book Of Love after a dramatic day means I have the emotional maturity of Lindsey Buckingham

whoa oh oh ohhhhhhohhhhhhh

just center yourself on the rock solid emotional maturity of john mcvie, be the penguin

interesting "that's alright" goes all the way back to buckingham/nicks

an all time tune for me, enjoy the alternate version too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngO6-a6NAIc

One of the last times Nicks could hit those high notes before her nose surrendered to coke.

Love Mirage! That's Alright is a really strong song, after hearing the coffee plant demo and realizing how old it is I'm surprised they waited until the 80s before using it. Maybe it was too C/W for the prior albums? I dunno. Better song to me than I Don't Want to Know or Blue Letter, both older tunes dusted off and repurposed for FM.

"That's Alright" is the only non-single on here that's memorable to me.
I was pretty surprised, hearing this record years after their 70s run, how traditional the sound palette was, and especially knowing how completely they'd give in to sampling and programming on the follow-up. I guess 1982 was just on the cusp of these superstar acts still recording with piano, organ, "organic"-sounding harmonies, etc. Also probably the conservatism reflects Lindsey being a good boy after Tusk.

I don't find this album particularly traditional-sounding, especially given the much-vaunted experimentalism of Tusk is largely confined to a handful of tracks (that's not a criticism: a tune like "Over and Over" is not terribly experimental but is still absolutely gorgeous-sounding).

On Mirage the interplay of competing elements - both between various instruments and then between lead versus backing vocals - is incredibly intense, even as formally there is more of an investment in "classic" pop manoeuvres (e.g. the harmonies having a slight barbershop vibe at times).

This culminates on "Hold Me" which is like an intricately wrought musical box, but also elsewhere and more subtly, like on "Only Over You": the complex but unthreatening interweaving of distant sighing backing vocals, churning bass, whining or droning organ, rat a tat drum rolls and a twinkling King Sunny Ade guitar solo from another room (notice how this song immediately repeats the trick from "Gypsy" of fading out on what might have been a much longer solo).

And of course "Eyes of the World" is just nuts, the intro to the guitar solo where it's like a serrated knife cutting through the rest of the arrangement in order to take over the track feels like peak Buckingham to me.

A close listen reveals the importance of Mirage as a bridge between Tusk and Tango rather than as a retrenchment.

My ears always fix on the gated/prominent reverb of this album. The eighties!

Mirage sounds conservative only next to Tusk.

I've realized that Halfway there but for you just about never agree on music.

* Halfway there but for you and I

My ears always fix on the gated/prominent reverb of this album. The eighties!

― Reeves Gabrels' Funko Pop (majorairbro),

This album doesn't sound '80s. The ethos is still post-punk.

just about never agree on music.

We like some of the same things, just different parts. That's one of the things I like to learn on this site.